HUD awards $6 million for tribal housing in Southcentral Alaska

Federal housing authorities on Monday announced plans to award $6 million to build several dozen new homes in Southcentral Alaska for low-income Alaska Native families.

The grant is part of an almost $151 million investment that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is making to 41 tribes nationwide to address housing needs in tribal communities, agency officials say. These Indian Housing Block Grant Competitive funds will help build 540 homes across the country, they say.

“Every single American deserves a warm place to live and live in decent housing, and that’s what we’re going to provide,” Richard Monocchio, principal deputy assistant secretary of HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing, said during a presentation Monday at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

Cook Inlet Housing Authority plans to use $6 million to build 47 units, predominantly in East Anchorage, said Gabe Layman, authority president and CEO. Of those units,19 will be elder housing, 24 will be family housing and the remaining four will be available to low and moderate-income families, he said.

Layman said the federal grant program is foundational to well-being and stability in Alaska Native communities throughout this state.

“So much of what we do for our families and our elders is built off of this core source of funding, and the reality is, this is a source that had remained stagnant for many, many years,” Layman said. “Suddenly we are seeing an influx of investment into tribal communities through the Indian Housing Block Grant. That is something that is an incredible feat that’s to be celebrated.”

The nonprofit housing authority focuses on building affordable rental housing in various neighborhoods in Anchorage, as well as in Eagle River and on the Kenai Peninsula. In 2022, the entity built several apartment complexes in the Spenard neighborhood, replacing a contaminated industrial site. This fall, the authority is completing Brewster’s apartments in Mountain View, which will be available for low-income residents, Layman said.

The new HUD funding is an addition to a yearly formula grant that doesn’t always cover the construction of new homes and is typically allocated for maintaining current housing, according to a statement from the agency.

HUD officials plan to stay in Alaska for a week, traveling to Fairbanks. Kotzebue, Kivalina and other locations to hear about the housing challenges people face across the state, Monocchio said.

Separately, HUD provided $600,000 to help the City of Nome develop a mobile 3D concrete printer to help create new housing, said Tanaya Srini, senior adviser for innovation in the Office of Policy Development and Research at HUD.

According to the Nome Nugget, the city has partnered with the University of Pennsylvania to build a demonstration home to learn whether the 3D printing technology would work in the Arctic climate. Construction was scheduled to begin this summer.